Under the supervision of a Registered nurse, a certified nursing assistant is a trained person who assists patients with health care needs. The CNA is also known as the nursing assistant, nurse aide or simply the patient care assistant. The scope of work limits the CNA to perform certain tasks due to issues of legality and liability, and such are left to the LPN or RN.
What role does a Certified Nursing Assistant Play
Depending on the level of training and the state in which the CNA is working, roles can variably change. Additionally, the work setting greatly defines and influences what roles will be played by the nursing assistant. The following are some of the standard tasks executed by the nursing assistant:
Provide the nurses with vital information regarding the patients since they spend much time with them, and deemed to know the patients better
Perform vital signs like reading temperature, pulse rate and blood pressure
Care for the physical and emotion needs of the patients
Serve and feed the patients
Reassuring patients and keeping their personal information confidential.
These are the general roles played by all certified nursing assistants. However, since nursing aides work in different settings such as nursing homes, hospitals, adult day care centers and hospice agencies; there are other tasks specific to these institutions that the CNAs perform, alongside the ones stated above.
Certified Nursing Assistant Training
For one to be certified as a nursing assistant, he/she needs to undergo training for at least 6 months. The six months are the standard duration for certification, but should you wish to advance your training, more time will be required. There are several ways in which one can train, and finally get qualified to work as a certified nursing assistant.
The first and the current trend in cna training is the online training. The advantages of training online cannot be overemphasized. They include, and are not limited to, convenience, flexible, cheap and timely. Since most working people are willing to go back to class and train, online programs fit in perfectly.
Then, there is the Red Cross cna training programs. This is one of the best programs that you can enroll in. the training offered is specialized and the students are best equipped to work as nursing assistants.
The other avenue is training in a community college. The major advantage of training in a college is that the training is extensive and very ideal should you wish to advance your studies to the degree level. If you want to reach the highest level possible in this field, then this training is for you.
Eventually, you can also training in a hospital, and then sit for the certification exams. With this kind of training, the student gets extensive practical experience and normally very skilled when it comes to daily work.
This is what the field entails. So, depending on what type of certified nursing assistant you want to become, you can appropriately choose your specific career path.
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